


Padfoot Isn't Dead

by Mr_Pinniped



Category: Alice Isn't Dead (Podcast), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Crossover, Department of Mysteries, M/M, Night Vale, POV Remus Lupin, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 10:56:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12816039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mr_Pinniped/pseuds/Mr_Pinniped
Summary: After Sirius Black falls through The Veil at the Department of Mysteries, Remus receives a mysterious book that guides him to a remote desert location, because he's pretty sure- Padfoot Isn't Dead.  (Crossover with Alice Isn't Dead and Welcome to Night Vale).





	Padfoot Isn't Dead

**Author's Note:**

> This story is written in the style of the podcast Alice Isn't Dead, so the flow and non-linearity of the prose may seem strange to those unfamiliar.

Sirius….

-

Sirius, I…

-

I want to start by saying…. “Merlin’s buttock!”

-

Sorry, someone cut me off.

-

I want to start by saying, this is not a story, it’s a road trip.Which, isn’t that different.They say in a good one the start is exciting and the finish is satisfying and we end up somewhere else.Somewhere a long way from where we started.

-

I don’t know where this trip started, what counts as the first moment.But for lack of a better answer I’ll start with this:

-

I mourned you, Sirius.I never loved anyone so hard.From my wolfy gut.So, screw you for that. I mean, really.

-

Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve driven a Muggle car?And do you know how damn BIG a lorry is?Sorry, a truck.Or a semi-truck, or a semi, or a big rig.They don’t call them lorries here.

-

I was devastated when you fell through The Veil.I had to hold Harry back to prevent him from following you through- I guess he really is James’ kid.I had to hold on to him.He was all we had left of James, and suddenly all I had left of you.I couldn’t let him know what I was feeling.I had to protect him- I was following my instincts.But after I got back to Grimmauld Place…. I locked myself in the bathroom.Curled up on the floor of the shower.It was the only place I couldn’t detect your scent.

-

Forget lorries- do you know how big AMERICA is?I have been driving on this highway for twelve hours.Back home, if I drove straight west for twelve hours, I’d be underwater at the end of it.Here, I’m just driving through cornfield after cornfield, with the occasional small town, and the rarer big city.I just got out of St. Louis.They’ve got this great big arch, apparently symbolic of a journey westward.I stopped just outside of town for lunch.There was a young woman who looked a lot like she was part-vampire working as a waitress at the diner.I wish there was some sort of secret sign wizards could use to recognize each other when we’re out among Muggles.

-

Arthur Weasley found the book.He had stopped in to check on the house- they’re still using it as Order Headquarters.Harry inherited it.But you know that.Finally found a silencing charm for your mother’s portrait that would keep her from screaming at us.Anyway, Arthur came by and found me sitting there on the stairwell like a broken-hearted fool.He had found this book sitting on the porch- a thin, blue leather-bound volume, gold letters on the spine that said “Hydrologic Features of New Mexico”.Completely blank on the inside, except for one page that said “The Bay”.Handwritten.Looked a bit like your handwriting, but not quite.Neither of us knew what to make of it.I’m not an expert in American geography, but I was pretty sure New Mexico was a landlocked desert.No bays there.But I held onto that book.

-

Heh.I just passed a billboard advertising a Muggle film.Batman.I don’t know if you would have liked that one.But the billboard had a picture of the Joker saying “Why so serious?”You would have made a pun, I know it.

-

The vampire girl at the diner kept looking at me while I ate.There were plenty of other customers in there- an old man reading a newspaper, a young couple on a date, a few guys talking about their new tech start-up (apparently they want to make phones take picture that move now?Muggles are catching up to us.). But the vampire girl kept staring at me.I cant tell what she was thinking.

-

The next billboard was for a veterinarian’s hospital in Kansas City.But the dog in the picture looked so familiar.Big, black, unkempt.I kept driving.But maybe I’ll stop in Kansas City.

-

I tried writing “I solemnly swear I am up to no good” in the Hydrologic Features book.I thought maybe it would show me something.Nothing happened.

-

Ok, the next two billboards I passed just said “Hell Is Real” and “Jesus is Lord”.Guess all the stereotypes I’ve heard about the American midwest are true. 

-

You know, I never really liked coffee.Always preferred tea.But after the amount of sleep I’ve had this week, a good strong coffee gave me the energy I needed.Vampire girl made sure I had plenty of refills at lunch.“You’re not from around here, are you?” she asked.“You from England?”I nodded.“Most of the tourists come here in the summertime.Are you on a business trip?”“You could say it’s business,” I replied.I didn’t want to tell her about you.

-

The moon came out this afternoon.Only a crescent.If I keep this up for more than two weeks I’ll have to find a place to lie low and avoid attention.I hope I’ve reached my destination by then.

-

It was Mad-Eye Moody who finally gave me some clues about The Veil.Seems that it doesn’t always work the same way.That the people who pass through don’t all share the same fate.I mean, most of them just die.Already knew that.But sometimes, the separation of worlds is thin.Sometimes, the Department of Mysteries can’t even predict it.But apparently, the release of magical energy that happened when all the prophesies smashed effected the Veil.Made it thinner, he said.Made it possible you weren’t gone forever.

-

I stopped in Kansas City.Just my luck, there’s an animal shelter right next to this hotel.I can’t hear a dog barking without thinking of you.

-

As soon as I had that conversation with Moody, more words appeared in the _Hydrologic Features_ book.Just a few words per page, and not on every page, not quite.But it had an address on the back cover.A site in New York where apparently an Obscurus had died seventy years ago.Something happened when it’s energy was released, and Muggle items that had been in the blast radius, were never quite the same…

-

The server at the hotel’s breakfast bar looked a lot like vampire girl.I mean, I guess she could have been.Kansas City is not that far from St. Louis.She looked at me with a creepy grin while handing me orange juice- creepy enough that I thought to sniff it first before drinking.

-

Moody didn’t tell me why exactly I needed to drive a giant truck across America, why I couldn’t have Apparated nearby and then gone through.Dumbledore was esoteric as always.It took several books of both Muggle and wizard folklore for me to piece together some things.Padfoot, I even had to do a Google search! 

-

There’s a lot of corn here.More corn than I’ve seen in the rest of my life put together.I’ve started to perk up at the novelty of seeing a wheat field.

-

I had to sit through Muggle television shows.They claimed to be from The History Channel.They had nothing to do with history.I couldn’t understand the American Muggles, er, No-Majs, as they say, who were obsessed with the supernatural.Some of it was funny- what’s unusual to them is everyday to us.But every one of them gave me another clue.Astral planes, reality portals, all that other weird stuff we learned as discounted theory?Turns out it’s not as discounted as we thought.And The Department of Mysteries was working on that. 

-

I just crossed the border into Colorado.So far, it doesn’t look any different than Kansas.

-

You know how, usually, Divination is complete bunk?But occasionally a true prophecy gets through?Well, apparently that only happens when the border between realities is thin.The Veil in London is one place where that border is contained.But there are others. 

-

I made it to Denver.There’s mountains now- a welcome change from the flatlands.It’s just past suppertime.I wasn’t even surprised when Vampire Girl served my food at the tacqueria.It was more surprising when she handed me my bill.Down at the bottom, next to the restaurant’s phone number, it said “VALE, NOT VEIL,”.I saw her again as I left.She was standing under a stop sign and looking directly at me. But it’s time to turn south.

-

The stars look amazing out here.The dark road, the high mountains, and the stars.Of course the stars in the sky aren’t the star I’m looking for.

-

Sorry, that was sappy.I miss you, Sirius.

-

I’m at the gas station in Roswell, New Mexico.All of the street lamps have alien faces on them. Every shop has space-themed paraphernalia.And every person has at least one story of strange lights and strange beings in the desert.Of course, I know what they are now.And if I’m right, so do you.

-

There’s a billboard out here that says “The Bay Waterfront.”Sitting in the middle of the desert.Is this where I should be? 

-

Ok, so if the coordinates are correct, a lone chicken will cross the road in a few minutes.When it does, I’ll have to shift gears on this truck.Something in this truck has enough energy, and when the time is right, I can… well, I’m not sure I completely understand it.I know have to drive straight into that cactus.Just like Platform 9 3/4.But I’ll see you, somehow.Wait.There was a noise outside.Sirius.I think someone’s outside my truck.I think they’re trying to get in.I need to go check.

-

Ok, I’m back.It was Vampire Girl.She was standing out there in the desert, grinning at me.“Found my book, did you?” she said.I just nodded.“You’re very clever, you know.And you must really care about what you’ve lost.Or perhaps, WHO you’ve lost?”My face must have given me away.She laughed, revealing sharper teeth than I usually saw on a human being.Vampire suspicion confirmed.

“You know if you find him, you can’t come back?” Her eyes gleamed eerily.“No Remus Lupin.Those who pass through the Veil don’t always die, it’s true.Sometimes, they end up in… Vale.”

“Where’s Vale? And how do you know my name?” I asked.

“I know all the things that happen on these highways, things that shouldn’t” she said.She stepped closer.She was wearing a polo shirt with a logo that said “Bay and Creek Shipping” and a nametag that said “ALICE” on it.“I lost someone too.She’s looking for me.She’s in danger.Are you sure HE wants you to put yourself in danger?”

“I’m in more danger if I stay.To myself and others.”  
The girl nodded, as if I’d passed some sort of test.“You don’t have any relatives in Michigan, do you?”I shook my head.“Good.Because where you’re going.Michigan is not a real state.Anyway, it’s time for you to find out- when did the chicken cross the road?”She took one step and vanished. I got back into the truck.

-

I never really understood that joke, about chickens and roads.Then again, maybe you never heard it.MERLIN’S BOOTS there it is!

=

=

Everything is on fire now.I don’t think my books predicted this.

-

The fire stopped.The air seems heavier.I can’t see anything with my eyes.In my mind, I can see… I see myself!Oh my gods!I’m dead, Sirius!Dead and lying next to Tonks, of all people!Harry is in the Forest.He’s… he’s… Narcissa just…a big snake… the sword of Gryffindor, and all through it is my dead body! 

-

All right.I’m still here.I’m not dead.I can’t see the truck anymore.I can’t really feel it either, but there is definitely SOMETHING keeping me seated 8 feet off the ground.I probably shouldn’t move.

-

I just saw Voldemort’s defeat.For just a moment, I could see several possible timelines, several possible worlds.For just a moment, I could see Harry, triumphant.I could see Tonks, dead beside me.But as I disappeared, as I passed through this cactus-veil, she lived.I don’t know how, or why but I saved your cousin in seeking you.

-

You’re here.I can see you.I opened my eyes and suddenly what was empty desert was a town.The sky is glowing, and I can see helicopters crossing it.There’s a hooded figure crossing the street where the chicken just was.And beyond the intersection, a gate that reads, “Dog Park.No Dogs Allowed.”And seated on a bench next to it is YOU.You can’t see me yet, or the lorry.A few more minutes. 

-

Ok, I’m going to move.If I just stand up and step carefully… I hit the ground.You should be able to see me now.Sirius?

-

_“Remus?You found me?”“I found you! You aren’t dead!”“Well not technically, but I don’t think we can go back.”“I know.But I could see what would happen.Harry will prevail.And we may be able to see him again someday.There are other magical artifacts that can weaken the barriers. I learned more about the nature of reality and spacetime and both magical and muggle theory in the past weeks than I ever thought possible .”“Well, I’m so glad to see you.”_

_-_

_“I have a house in town.Just bought some eggs and vegetables.Come over for dinner?”“With your cooking?Sirius, you’d better invite me over so I can feed you something not burned.”“Well, I’m sorry you like everything raw.Come stay with me?NightVale is not as lonely as Azkaban, but I could use a companion.”_

-

I was right.Padfoot isn’t dead. 

**Author's Note:**

> I want to write a companion piece to this, from Sirius' POV where he falls through The Veil and wakes up in Night Vale. Stay tuned, I hope!


End file.
